I'm using this as my book about war for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, but I primarily read it as research for a short story I'm planning to write. Living Hell is a wonderful piece of historical writing, with a balance between scholarly and literary tone. I wish I could make everyone I've ever heard espouse "the South's gonna rise again" ideology read this book, because I don't know how you could be a rational person and still think that or want that while knowing the facts of what military and civilian life was like during the Civil War. I already knew that the historical education I received in school was flawed and biased, but I didn't realize how much my teachers omitted regarding the Civil War, and I didn't realize how quickly after the conflict that the public' perception of the war began to change and to become romanticized.

Arguably more sickening than reading about the physical effects of grape shot was reading the trajectory of newly-freed black people, of women, and of the poor after the war ended. The next-to-last chapter follows these threads through Jim Crow, Robber Barons, the denial of women's service during the war effort, and more, and it's hard to read without feeling cynical.

I highly recommend this book, with the caveat that it's one of the most disturbing books that I've ever read.